Chapter 127: Dragging My Wife

She smiled sadly. “This cemetery only exclusively allows the burial of people whose families are not around.”

Luther nodded in understanding. “No wonder most of the new headstones are without names.”

“I wanted to give her a headstone, but…”

He patted her hand in understanding.

But her trick could only take her so far. His phone kept buzzing with incoming messages. Aurelia motioned him to take his time and walked the narrow paths, looking at the headstones. They were unattended to, and green from the moss which had accumulated.

She pushed down the knee to clean up one by one and walked to the gate. Luther rushed up to her from behind, hesitation on his face.

“Where do you want to have lunch?” Aurelia asked cluelessly.

He had delayed the inevitable for so long. He had even taken the morning off for the burial, but Jianna was persistent. Luther bit his cheek before he answered.

“I have to meet some friends,” he told her. He almost expected her to be upset with him.

It was like Aurelia didn’t have a single bone of anger in her. He was sure she could see right through him at that moment.

“I’m sure you can’t do without,” she said softly.

She didn’t comment on how ungrateful he was. Or how he never thought about taking her to meet his friends.

“Some of these friends have returned after years…” he supplied as an excuse.

“I’m not so terrible that I will monopolize your time.”

“Will you be alright?” he questioned. He was about to ask her to join him, but the thought of Jianna and Aurelia in the same club room, surrounded by friends who knew too much about the convoluted relationship didn’t sound fun.

Aurelia shrugged. “I have some work to tend to this evening. Don’t be too late, okay? And drink in moderation.”

Luther, once again, found himself unable to face his wife.

The car stopped in front of them and Aurelia opened the passenger side door. She glanced at Luther from over the open door. “Where are you meeting them?” she asked.

She had a sneaking suspicion that Luther was going to meet Jianna. But now that she had been kind to him, he couldn’t expose his duplicity so easily. He wanted to protect his image in Aurelia’s heart.

Luther mumbled the name and Aurelia raised her brow. “Oh, that’s in the opposite direction of where I am going.” She stared at the ground thoughtfully. “Do you want to take the car? I can book a cab, I am sure.”

Luther looked around the empty road. Not a single soul was in sight.

He cleared his throat. “You take the car home.”

Aurelia smiled broadly. “Wonderful. I’ll see you… tomorrow, then.” She asked no questions. Didn’t wonder if he would return home that night.

Aurelia simply slid into the car and shut the door gracefully. Luther suspected she was upset and throwing a tantrum, but her broad smile and concern made it difficult to imagine. He shook his head and texted his friend to pick him up.

The car drove off into the distance and disappeared around the corner.

.

“Jianna was just telling me that you married her sister!” Luther’s friend, Alex exclaimed when Luther entered the private box.

Several other people were lounging across the room, all with different drinks and blunts in their hands. They sectioned off into smaller groups to gossip. Alex was sitting with Jianna. She looked much better than two days ago, when she was scared into a fever.

Luther smiled. “I can’t change destiny, can I,” he joked.

Seth, the friend who had picked him up, slapped his back and chuckled. “Oh, he is whipped for his wife. He let her take the car home and begged me to pick him up from the middle of nowhere.”

Alex cocked his head. “Oh? Angered the missus? What did you do?”

Luther shook his head. “We were out there for some work and she had to be somewhere urgently. I let her go first,” he explained. He sat down on the sofa, picking the empty spot beside Alex instead of Jianna’s.

Everyone noticed the action.

Alex sighed. “Indeed, it’s different when you are married. You side with your wife on everything now.”

Seth was quick to chime in. “If my girlfriend were half as pretty and accomplished as his wife, I would ditch you guys and follow her around all day.”

Luther rolled his eyes. “Don’t exaggerate.”

Seth huffed. “You have no idea how popular your wife is, do you?” he questioned. “After she was introduced at the birthday party, our parents haven’t stopped talking about her.” He glanced around the room, hoping everyone would nod.

And they did.

“Now, we are being compared to your wife.”

“My family keeps asking me to settle down with someone like her.”

The jokes floated, but Jianna grew increasingly quiet. She fiddled with her thumbs in her lap while Luther soaked in the compliments. His chest puffed up with pride.

“Why didn’t you bring this goddess out to meet us, then?” Alex questioned. He picked up a drink and offered it to Luther to take.

“She is busy taking care of the house and some businesses,” he replied.

Alex gasped in understanding. “Oh, I heard about that. Wasn’t she running a strip club?”

Luther noted the malice in Alex’s voice and whipped around to look at him. This news wasn’t publicized outside. How could anyone find out?

“What are you talking about?”

Jianna pressed her hand against her chest. “Of course not. My sister is a musician. Why would she go into such a dirty business?” she acted.

Alex placed his hand on her thigh. “Don’t underestimate your sister. She is different from you.”

“Hey,” Seth warned. His eyes flashed towards Luther, expecting him to protest.

“My uncle really hates her. He threw a hot potato at her and now she is trying to close the club without anyone finding out,” Luther said in a low voice. “Just pretend you didn’t hear about it.”

Alex guffawed. “Oh, I could pretend I heard nothing about it, but what about the people who see her at the club every day?”

His meaning was dirty. Luther gritted his teeth.

“Alex,” he hissed. “I came to meet you, but you insist on dragging my wife into this conversation. What do you mean?”

Alex leaned back and shrugged. “What do you want me to say? Your wife plays around at strip clubs. And you? You gave up on the woman that truly loves you.”

Jianna smacked Alex. “Don’t talk about my sister like that!”

Her anger caught Alex off guard.

Alex raised his hand over his head. “Hey, someone just send me a picture of your sister at Rogue. She is there right now. Closing the club? I think she intends to keep it open for her personal enjoyment!”

“She is at Rogue right now?” Luther asked.